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Astonishing Vol 1 6
Supporting Characters: * * Antagonists: * * Other Characters: * Joe Races and Species: * Locations: * Vehicles: * | StoryTitle2 = The Phantom Pen | Writer2_1 = Bill Everett | Penciler2_1 = Bill Everett | Inker2_1 = Bill Everett | Colourist2_1 = | Letterer2_1 = Bill Everett | Editor2_1 = | Synopsis2 = At the home of wealthy millionaire Jasper J. Corpra, he is visited by a Russian agent who has come to thank him for the money that he has given their country by giving him a gift: a platinum plated pen. Corpra, takes the gift and thanks the Russian for it the gift. However, Jasper suddenly finds himself to have the compulsion write large checks to the Stalinist government in Russia for millions of dollars. Unable to stop himself, Jasper then calls on Bob Grayson of the Amalgamated Insurance Company, knowing that he is really Marvel Boy and asks for his help to stop his urge to write these checks. When Marvel Boy sees the pen, he asks to see it but it suddenly jumps out of Corpra's hand. The pen then jumps back into Corpra's pocket. Curious, Marvel Boy asks Corpra where he got it and learns about the Russian agent who gifted it to him. Marvel Boy pays a visit to the Russian's office and asks about the pen. The Russian maintains that there was nothing wrong with it when he gave it to Jasper and then refuses to show Marvel Boy the checks. When the hero overstays his welcome, the Russian tries to strike Marvel Boy. Grayson blocks the punch with his wrist and his light bands go off erasing the ink from the checks. He then blinds the Russian who surrenders but vows that the hero will not be able to stop Jasper from writing more checks. Marvel Boy arrives and spots mobster Lippy Broadhurst and his men are forcing Jasper to write more checks. Before Marvel Boy can deal with them, the Russian arrives and orders the mobsters to remove Marvel Boy's light bands. However the hero activates them again, and in the blinding light Lippy accidentally shoots his Russian employer. The flight flash destroys the checks and the platinum pen. However, when the authorities arrive they are able to arrest Lippy Broadhurst for murdering the Russian. In the aftermath, Jasper decides to use his wealth to invest in the United States from now on. | Appearing2 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Antagonists: * Communist spies Races and Species: * | StoryTitle3 = The Hills of Venus | Writer3_1 = | Penciler3_1 = | Inker3_1 = | Colourist3_1 = | Letterer3_1 = Typeset | Editor3_1 = | Synopsis3 = The first explorer on Venus is caught in an old bear trap, but he is able to use the wildlife to call for help. | Appearing3 = Featured Characters: * Races and Species: * Locations: * | StoryTitle4 = The Coffin | Writer4_1 = | Penciler4_1 = Bill LaCava | Inker4_1 = Bill LaCava | Colourist4_1 = | Letterer4_1 = | Editor4_1 = | Synopsis4 = Wealthy Milton Whitestone takes precautions against being buried alive by having a coffin specially built for himself, fitted with an oxygen tank, a radio, and a telephone connected to his home. As such, he narrowly escapes death when his gold-digging wife attempts to murder him, using his radio to call his friend Dexter for help. Their plan to scare Sylvia into confessing with stories of "ghost phone calls" and getting permission to investigate Milton's grave backfires when Sylvia digs up, then trips and falls into the opened coffin. With both the radio and telephone line ripped out, Sylvia has only forty minutes of air left, which won't last for the hour she gave the graverobbers time off before returning to rebury the coffin. Years later, on the anniversary of Sylvia's mysterious disappearance, as ever the telephones of the abandoned Whitestone estate ring uselessly for forty minutes straight. | Appearing4 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Races and Species: * | StoryTitle5 = Unseen Terror | Writer5_1 = Bill Everett | Penciler5_1 = Bill Everett | Inker5_1 = Bill Everett | Colourist5_1 = | Letterer5_1 = Bill Everett | Editor5_1 = | Synopsis5 = On the streets one afternoon a man suddenly begins to be choked by his own clothing and dies on the street as people around him panic. All over the city similar strangulations happen. The strange deaths prompts Marvel Boy to go to the police and inquire about the case. He meets with the lead detective who is investigating the case and he explains that they suspect foul play as all the men were strangled by suits made by the same tailor. Before the police can bring in the tailor in be questioned they are informed that the tailor has apparently skipped town. Marvel Boy agrees to try and track the man in question down. The hero first stops at his rocket ship and contacts Daka on Uranus for information. With this information Marvel Boy travels to Mammoth University and pays a visit to their observatory where he has succeeded in tracking down the tailor. Marvel Boy questions the surprised tailor who denies that he has fabric that contracts and strangles the victims. He tries to prove this by offering Marvel Boy to put on a coat. Marvel Boy complies, falling right into the tailors trap and the hero is apparently strangled to death. The man, who killed his victims as part of a gruesome experiment. He then wraps up Marvel Boy in a roll of fabric and drives out to dispose of the body. Marvel Boy has survived however, and he manages to break free from the fabric. Climbing up on the roof of the truck he uses the tailor's own fabric to crash the vehicle, crushing it to pieces with the constricting fabric. Marvel Boy knocks out the tailor as he tries to escape and turns him over to the police. There he refveals that the tailor is really Professor Diminuito, a scientist from the planet Argos who had invented a contracting fabric. When the police ask Marvel Boy how he survived being strangled to death, he opens his jacket revealing that he was wearing a metal neck brace to protect himself. | Appearing5 = Featured Characters: * Antagonists: * Races and Species: * | Notes = * This is the final appearance of Marvel Boy in an Atlas publication. Following the next issue, Astonishing became strictly a horror and sci-fi anthology series. Marvel Boy did not appear again until , as per the retcon of , this appearance was only in the Crusaders flashback, as he believed himself to be the real Marvel Boy at the time, when in reality he was an agent of the Uranian Eternals made to replace Marvel Boy to fit their agenda to return to Earth. | Trivia = | Recommended = | Links = }}